Explanation:
This enhanced Hubble Space Telescope
image shows in remarkable detail
the inner portion of the disk of
dust and gas surrounding the star AB Aurigae.
Knots of material, visible here for the first time, may well represent
an early stage of a process which could result in the formation
of planets over the next few million years.
AB Aurigae is a young star
(2-4 million years old), about 469 light-years distant.
Its swirling
circumstellar disk is large,
about 30 times the size of
our solar system.
Astronomers believe
planet-making is just beginning in
AB Aurigae's disk because
known disks surrounding younger stars (less than 1 million years old)
do not show such clumpy structure,
while disks of slightly older stars
(aged 8-10 million years) have gaps and
features suggesting
that planets have already been formed.
Why the window pane appearance?
Wide black stripes in the picture are caused by occulting bars used
to block out the overwhelming starlight and the diagonal streaks
are due to diffraction spikes.